6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Jean-Paul Belmondo romps his way through the role of 18th century French bandit chief Cartouche. At first robbing from everyone in sight, Cartouche is rechanneled into becoming a Gallic Robin Hood by the beauteous gypsy Venus.
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claudia Cardinale, Jess Hahn, Marcel Dalio, Jean RochefortForeign | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Philippe de Broca's "Cartouche" (1962) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. The supplemental features on the disc include new audio commentary by critic and author Simon Abrams; recent program with Alexandra de Broca and Journalist Thomas Morales; and vintage trailer for the film. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Survivors
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Cartouche arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
This film was recently restored in 4K at L'immagine Ritrovata on behalf of StudioCanal. Unfortunately, the end result is yet another awful misfire that is actually impossible to describe as a 'restoration'. Indeed, while the ungraded master appears to have been very healthy, the color grading that was approved for it is so atrocious that the restored film actually does not look like a film. For example, virtually all of the darker footage is destabilized by large blocks of flat grays whose digital roots give the film a strikingly digital appearance. The primary color values are incorrect as well, so there are all kinds of other color balance issues that make the film unwatchable. (Cartouche is supposed to have a wide range of diverse, very beautiful organic colors that are simply missing from this 'restoration'). Instead of boasting terrific depth and fine shadow details and nuances, much of the film actually struggles to maintain proper delineation, which is why on a large screen the shortcomings of the makeover become impossible to ignore. Image stability is excellent. The entire film looks spotless as well. All in all, this is yet another horrible digital reimagination of a classic European film that should have never been greenlighted. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The audio is excellent. The audio is very clear, sharp, and wonderfully balanced. It has really ranges of dynamic nuances as well, which is important because between the mass action sequences and the music score there are plenty of opportunities to impress. There are no audio dropouts, pops, hiss, or distortions to report in our review.
The recent 4K restoration of Cartouche is atrocious. This isn't how this classic film is supposed to look, but I am not surprised by its current digital appearance because all of its flaws are introduced by the same horrible color-grading practice that has been promoted by L'Immagine Ritrovata and a couple of other European labs for quite a while now. The real tragedy, however, is that these types of humongous misfires keep getting endorsed by people that should know better -- a lot better. AVOID.
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